Personal electronic devices (PEDs) carried aboard vehicles by passengers are requesting increasing amounts of power for charging. Increased power requests affect aircraft more because weight is a critical factor on aircraft and supplying greater amounts of power for charging passenger PEDs reduces the fuel an airplane can use for propulsion. In particular, fuel used for increased electric power generation reduces the amount of fuel left for propelling the vehicle to its destination. Demand for increased power for PEDs on long haul flights is typically even more problematic because PED batteries are more likely to deplete before arrival and therefore require charging from vehicle power for continued use of the PED during flight.
Conventionally, a fixed amount of power has been reserved for usage among outlets on a vehicle. The drawback with this arrangement is that it frequently does not result in a satisfactory distribution of power among PEDs connecting to the outlets. For example, one PED may draw more power than others, and not leave enough power for PEDs charging from other outlets. Hence, improvements are desired.